![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katsterMy eyes are hurting from running through two years and scanning the microfilm machine for mentions of the word fire. Doubly so when I'm doing wildfires and the paper is full of mentions of housefires and cities burning. So I've only made it through three rolls of microfilm in two and a half hours.
But I wanted to share with you some examples of newspaper reporting in 1898. These both come from the Redding Morning Searchlight, which later merged with the Shasta Record (i think, the paper was the Record, though) and became the current paper of record for Redding and Shasta County (that is, the Redding Record Searchlight, or as some locals call it, the Wretched Flashlight.)
Anyway, with no further ado:
July 12, 1898
An unsafe bridge
The Board of Supervisors (Cahow absent) returned Sunday evening from an visit of inspection to the Roaring River bridge in the Gas Point country. They found the structure in a very unsafe condition and it will be absolutely necesary to replace it with a new bridge.
Upon the arrival of the Country Dads at the scene of their investigation, they found a sign on the bridge, reading "Safe for a thousand pounds and two horses."
The Supervisors disagree with the author of the sign.
July 27, 1898 (The Whiskeytown Report)
Hot Time in Our Town
The thermometor in our town were working overtime Tuesday. The mercury begain running upward about 8 o'clock in the morning and continued the ascent with disgust provoking rapidly until 5 o'clock. The heat registering machine in front of Pollack's Bankrupt store said, in plain figures, about 4 p.m., that we were having a taste of the lower regions for 118 degrees worth.
There is still a lot more research to be done, but my eyes will not forgive me if I go back to the microfilm machine, so I think I'm going to wander off, find lunch somewhere in this town, and go to my counseling appointment. I'll catch y'all latah. :)
But I wanted to share with you some examples of newspaper reporting in 1898. These both come from the Redding Morning Searchlight, which later merged with the Shasta Record (i think, the paper was the Record, though) and became the current paper of record for Redding and Shasta County (that is, the Redding Record Searchlight, or as some locals call it, the Wretched Flashlight.)
Anyway, with no further ado:
July 12, 1898
An unsafe bridge
The Board of Supervisors (Cahow absent) returned Sunday evening from an visit of inspection to the Roaring River bridge in the Gas Point country. They found the structure in a very unsafe condition and it will be absolutely necesary to replace it with a new bridge.
Upon the arrival of the Country Dads at the scene of their investigation, they found a sign on the bridge, reading "Safe for a thousand pounds and two horses."
The Supervisors disagree with the author of the sign.
July 27, 1898 (The Whiskeytown Report)
Hot Time in Our Town
The thermometor in our town were working overtime Tuesday. The mercury begain running upward about 8 o'clock in the morning and continued the ascent with disgust provoking rapidly until 5 o'clock. The heat registering machine in front of Pollack's Bankrupt store said, in plain figures, about 4 p.m., that we were having a taste of the lower regions for 118 degrees worth.
There is still a lot more research to be done, but my eyes will not forgive me if I go back to the microfilm machine, so I think I'm going to wander off, find lunch somewhere in this town, and go to my counseling appointment. I'll catch y'all latah. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-30 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-30 08:09 pm (UTC)I've got a pretty good lead on the last ten years.
The problem is, the last ten years aren't all that historical, and I've got to find some historical pieces. I might run by CDF this afternoon and see if they can possibly help me out with directions to go.
It's frustrating digging through the newspapers because the microfilm is hard on my eyes, and you find things like -- well, you'll be reading along, and suddenly the paper will say something like "The wildfire burning in Igo the last few days" and you're like, "*what* wildfire?!? THis is the first time you're mentioning it!"
Anyway, there's enough of that rant.
-kat
Cool Beans
I so hate microfilm.
Other Sources
Date: 2004-11-30 11:29 pm (UTC)In addition to that, county courthouse might have records of reconstruction done due to wildfires, not sure if they'll list the cause but its worth a try.
CDF is a good bet to know where you might be able to go. With the number of wildfires up there every 10 years you may not be able to find a really good record of a really big one because it'll be blended in with the little one.
Though a drive to an older town than redding (perhaps a less industrialized one as well) may prove worth it to look through real newspapers if they have them in their library, might find better reporting too if they have a local paper. Somewhere closer to the usual area of the fires. You can find usual area from CDF for sure!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-01 06:10 am (UTC)